The cryptocurrencies set to be big in 2018: Ripple, litecoin and more

Written by: Poppy Skinner Created: 30 April 2018

Want to know what the next big thing after Bitcoin is? Read on.

There's no denying that cryptocurrencies are the next big thing in terms of investments and while Bitcoin enjoyed huge spikes on the stock markets last year, towards the end of 2017 and early 2018, those peaks seemed to have dipped. But with general interest at an all-time high, we take a look at the other cryptocurrencies set to be the new Bitcoin that are worth investing in.

RIPPLE

Ripple purports to enable "secure, instantly and nearly free global financial transactions of any size with no chargebacks." The Ripple currency  is called XRP - and its purpose is to bring speed, transparency and security to conventional financial processes and works using cryptocurrency, commodity or any other value of currency including frequent flier miles. Unlike other cryptocurrencies, Ripple work by being mined - it can only be bought from exchanges, making it somewhat easier to use. 

LITECOIN

Litecoin can be said to be somewhat more stable than Bitcoin due to the fact that it can handle larger volumes of transactions. It is also quicker to generate blocks of transactions, taking just two and a half minutes where Bitcoin takes ten.  Currently Litecoin trades at $280 per coin, a drop from $477 in December. 

DASH

The best thing that a new company can do is sit back, watch what is going on in the market, and then improve on it and this is exactly what DASH have done. Taking their time and seeing where Bitcoin's problems lay, DASH works on a two tier system of miners and developers - essential to constantly improve and stabilise the currency. Within this system, 10 percent of all block traded is allocated to the developers making it a good site if you intend to use it regularly and see the worth in essentially investing in it. DASH is currently being traded at $1,047 a coin, dropping from $2,053 in December.

MONERO

The main USP about Monero is that is allows a totally private transaction between two parties. Unlike other currencies, the supply of monero is infinite and blocks wont run out or disappear but will slowly decrease in volume in 2022 when a minimum coin creation of 18 XMR per hour will be standardised. 

IOTA

IOTA's main difference is that rather than using blockchain technology, it uses something called 'The Tangle,' which promises to solve the problem of transaction fees and user scalability. This will work by asking the sender to create and verify a transaction all at the same time, therefore removing the need for miners so speeding up the total transaction time. 

Written by: Poppy Skinner

Poppy covers a wide range of topics at Billionaire, having spent the past 13 years at companies including Singapore Tatler, Her World Plus and Harpers Bazaar UK. She has a passion for fashion, jewellery and travel as well as an avaricious fascination with crime novels. Follow her at poppypskinner on Instagram.